Gypsy Road

Night Songs

I awake in the morning to bright sunlight warming me through the window and the shrill sound of the phone ringing.

"I got it!" I hear Tom yell across the house. His footsteps pick up speed and I hear him clamber to the phone on the wall outside the kitchen.

"Hello?" He says as he picks up the phone. As he listens to whoever is on the other line, I decide to take my time getting up. I look to my left and notice Eric is gone. He must have woken up long before me. I carefully open the door and see Eric, Jeff, and Fred anxiously crowding around Tom, who is wound up in the phone cord by the wall.

I see Tom's face light up instantly and he speaks to the person on the other line, "Yes! Yes of course, we definitely and very gladly accept! Please extend our thanks to Mr. Bon Jovi for recommending us to you." He pauses for second., "Uh-huh. Alright thanks so much! And we will see you first thing tomorrow morning."

Tom continues to smile wider as he listens to the phone. "Alright, got it. Bye."

Tom hangs up and unravels himself from the shiny red phone cord. He throws his hands in the air, doing a quick little victory dance, and then he exclaims calmly, "Gentlemen--and of course, fair lady..." Then he screams out loudly as possible, "We have been signed!"

We all erupt in screeches and hollers of joy and victory.

"Oh my God... It's finally fuckin' happening!" Eric cries out. The rest of us cheer back, embracing each other in sheer happiness.

"I am so proud of you guys. Be proud of yourselves, because you damn well deserve this deal," I say. Then out of nowhere, Eric grabs my waist, dipping me to the floor, and then kisses me passionately, and gracefully pulls me back up.

We continue to exploit our shock and ecstatic emotions when finally, Fred breaks the initial wave of excitement.

"So, Tom, first off, I have two questions. Well... technically three. One, what company did we get the deal with? And two-slash-three, where are we going tomorrow, and what will we be doing?"
"Well, Fred, I have two-slash-three answers. The deal is with Mercury/Polygram records, which Jon Bon Jovi recommended us to. And we are going down to the record studio tomorrow morning to sign all the paperwork and they're gonna go over the process for our first record with us." Tom couldn't help but crack out a smirk when he said the words 'our first record' and frankly, once I heard it I couldn't help but smile myself.

"Damn. Sounds like a fricken awesome plan, man," Fred replies.

"Count me in, I'm so ready for this. Well I would do a super fancy toast about now, but we don't have drinks." Jeff laughs. "So, here's to finally making it."

In place of raising glasses, Jeff throws up his fist in the air and we all do the same.

Since we have a day to prepare, the guys have decided to dedicate the day to rest, leaving the evening for a band meeting and some run-throughs before the big meeting tomorrow. Eric, Jeff, and Fred hang around for the day--there's no point in them going home just to come back later. I step back towards my room, pushing my messy hair away from my face. I open my dresser, pulling out a baggy gray t-shirt with a neon pink-and-green MTV logo printed on it. It used to be Tom's, but he gave it to me a while back. I then pull out the rest of the necessities, and some acid wash Levi's. I scurry over to the door and close it. Since I have the master bedroom, there's no need to exit my room to get to a bathroom. I pace the floor to the mirror and laugh at my ridiculous reflection. Left over makeup that I didn't manage to clean off last night is smudged in the corner of my eye, and faint lines of blue eyeshadow are still stuck to my creases. My hair is still mile high, but disheveled and ratted up on top of my head. I hop out of my pajamas, turn on the shower, and step into the warm water. I quickly wash my hair, pulling through the ridiculously large tangles as best I can. Once I am finished combing out the rat's nest that is my hair, I step out, turning the water off and throwing a towel around my body. I swiftly dry off and throw on my lazily selected outfit. I brush through my hair several times with a rather large paddle hairbrush, but I don't bother with any makeup or special hair styling today; I am far too tired for any of that.